Open Hearts, Open Minds:

Transcription

1 Open Hearts, Open Minds: Who Are We and What Are We Doing? (Version 1a) A Sunday service led by the Reverend Michael Walker, Interim Minister Presented on my first Sunday in the pulpit September 6, 2015, at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

2 CALL TO WORSHIP / CHALICE LIGHTING When our feet cross the threshold of our church, We have entered into a safe space, a sacred place, Surrounded by a congregation of caring people, And held in a communal embrace of love. Our ears feast on the harmonies of song, It is in celebration of all these things That we gather at this time and light our chalice. We are here to be together, to be uplifted, To love and to be loved. You are welcome here. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! Our eyes are mirrors that reflect each other s faces, Our hearts open to receive the care of others here, And our minds experience the whispered Word. This word is about the Spirit of Life, In which we find the ground of our being, A life of love in which we partake, And a life shared with those we care about. September 6, 2015 Page 2 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

3 CHILDREN S STORY Today, I m asking everyone a couple of questions: Who are we? Why are we here? I ll start by saying I m new minister here. At my last church, my family was out to breakfast and a member of my church came to say hi. He told me his daughter had let him know I was here, by saying, Dad, the Reverend Dude is here. Yeah, I suppose that s me. So, who are you? Why do you come here? What is this church about; what do we do here? What is your part in all that? I want you to know that you are a valued member of this community. We are glad you are here. And now PASTORAL PRAYER Into the silence, we whisper a prayer. We seek to be heard, as if shouting from mountaintops. Our prayer is simple, and it is a two-way exchange: We give and we receive so many things, Compassion and care, love even in times of loss, And always, we share in friendship and faith. We give and receive all the fruits of life. And for this, we are grateful. That is the prayer we whisper into the silence. We are grateful for life and for love, And that we are able to give and receive the same. May it ever be so and blessed be you all. it s time to go back to our seats. Thank you! September 6, 2015 Page 3 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

4 tomorrow s child, confidence in a continuity that Open Hearts, Open Minds: Who Are We and What Are We Doing? Reverend Michael Walker spans all times. It looks not to a perfect heaven but toward a good earth. It is respectful of the past, but not limited to it. It is trust in growing and Who are we? What are we doing? And more to the point, what do we do well? These are the questions conspiracy with change. It is spiritual responsibility for a moral tomorrow. that I m pondering at the beginning of this new ministry. I wonder how to find answers to these for our personal lives, as well as for the life of our congregation. I recently came across these words written by a UU, Edward Schempp, in the 60s, which I find apropos. He wrote: 1 Unitarian Universalism is faith in people, hope for 1 Owen-Towle, Tom, Theology Ablaze, Flaming Chalice Press, 2011, p Before we continue with who are we? you may be wondering, who am I? Since this is my first Sunday preaching, it is the first opportunity for some of you and I to meet. For others of you, we ve had that chance to meet and talk. I ve also been taking every opportunity I could to observe congregational life. My goal today is to shine a light on those things that the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg does well. But first, I September 6, 2015 Page 4 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

5 suppose some words of introduction are in order. Who am I? What am I doing? What do I do well? My ministry follows after many years of providing medical and psychiatric care. During and after seminary, my ministry work has taken me to churches in San Diego and San Francisco, California (where I was ordained), and one summer as a hospital chaplain in Medford, Oregon. I also spent a year serving as a minister-inresidence and administrator at the UU retreat center in Rowe, Massachusetts, which is where I met my partnerin-life, Glenn. And then, I most recently completed a three-year contract of Developmental Ministry at a small congregation called the Kitsap UU Fellowship, in Bremerton, on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state. In mid-july, Glenn and I loaded up a U-Haul truck and drove here. Some of you have heard that Glenn has had to return to our home and his work back there, and we are navigating a new life in which we are together, yet we are geographically far apart. We are doing this because I really wanted to take this opportunity with you, yet financially we needed Glenn to stay working at his job, at least for this year. We ll figure out what comes next. So, now, I think I should name one of those proverbial elephants in the room. I realize that none of us expected things to turn out as they have. As the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg was going through its search for a new settled minister in the last church year, you were not expecting that plan to fall through. You September 6, 2015 Page 5 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

6 were not expecting to have to scramble, looking for another interim minister, since your last interim was already contracted somewhere else. And, you did not expect me, in particular, to show up. Because I believe in being honest and forthright, I admit that my expectations were also different. This last year, there was a dearth of settled ministries available, but an over-abundance of interim opportunities available. So, I found myself looking for you, just as you were looking for me, although that wasn t how either of us started. Sometimes, life hands us unexpected blessings. The UCH board was having conversations about the qualities and qualifications of the minister UCH needs. And I was seeking a ministry that would not be a mere placeholder in my career, not somewhere that I would just coast along until the next thing came up. Rather, I was looking for a church that offered me a challenge to stretch myself and grow. And I believe I bring skills and experience that may be helpful to UCH. So, there came a day in June when your Board and I began to wonder if we might be able to help each other, and at the 11th Hour, we agreed to give it a go. And here we are. Together. Not what we originally expected, and yet, I can t help but feeling that this new partnership is a blessing. Speaking for myself, I m really looking forward to our time together, so I m approaching this work of ours with my eyes open and my heart open. You are invited to do the same. There is more I could say about me and my work, September 6, 2015 Page 6 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

7 but this service isn t really for or about me. It s for you, and it s about you. If you want to know more about me, just ask, and please know that I love getting to know all of you, too. which described the openness of UUs: We embrace a sense of possibility an openness toward that which is unknown the not-yet, the new, the different an openness that fosters qualities of authenticity, curiosity, creativity, And now, turning to our topic of the day, I have some questions for you to ponder. What happens when we approach the world, our lives, family, friends and congregation, with our eyes wide open? How are we affected when we approach the world with open hearts and open minds? Before going further, I d like to quote from a special report 2 issued by the our denomination, the UUA, 2 UUA, Embracing our Theological Diversity, 2005; in Owen-Towle, p courage and compassion, all of which nurture hope and healing in our world. Yes, I would agree with the anonymous authors of that quotation, that this is who we are, who we UUs are in the world. We embrace possibility, we walk towards the unknown, and we nurture hope and healing for ourselves and for those around us. What happens when we approach life with open hearts and open minds? The answer is simple, and yet it is also so complex that it may be unfathomable in the September 6, 2015 Page 7 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

8 beginning. The answer is this: When we approach life and the world with open hearts and mind, we are changed. We each become a new person. We become a new congregation. We are changed the quality of the change is dependent on how we seek to embrace it. If we embrace change, the unknown, and the diversity of life around us (in all its tattered and shattered... glory ), we yet find the possibility of hope and healing, which we may share with others. Surely that is what this congregation is famous for, climate change? Do you not seek to uplift the spirits or souls of all those whose feet cross our thresholds in both locations? It is by this standard that we may measure the quality of UCH, the quality of ourselves. Finding this answer causes us to consider the stories we tell about ourselves. I find the use of story to be far more indicative of our inner lives than one might imagine. Whether we recognize it or not, we all tell stories, at least in our own heads, about who we are and what we do. is it not? Are you not the social justice advocates who seek to make your surrounding community a better place? Do you not seek to improve the lives of those who may have less than you? Do you not seek to affect change for the good of the world, such as addressing A venerable teacher in the transpersonal tradition, Stanley Krippner, often talks about personal mythology. This is not about fiction or something one might make up for fun. Myth simply means story, but somehow it has September 6, 2015 Page 8 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

9 also acquired the connotation of being untrue. It is that connotation itself that is untrue, because myths come with their own, inherent truth. A myth is a story people tell to make meaning out of our lives or the world around us. These stories typically arise unconsciously, and are truly the goldmines of our own psyches. So, a personal myth is your story about you, which arose from the depths of your unconscious mind, and becomes something that you might celebrate, or that you might despise, but it is very important all the same. Our stories define us as human beings, and directly within our very human existence. If we extend this principle, we find the good news that, like any author, we have the power to re-write, edit, or add on to our stories in any way that rings true to us. It seems to me that the first and last chapters of all of our stories are pretty much the same, but all the chapters in between that is, your life is in your power to determine the plot, the supporting characters, and all the other parts that make up the good novel that is your life. Some have said that we are each the authors of our own destinies, and I truly believe that. relate to a principle many of us here hold dear. I would say that this process of recognizing and claiming our own stories comes from our search for truth and meaning Well, it seems to me that this is true of every person, in regards to their own personal stories or September 6, 2015 Page 9 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

10 personal mythology. It is also true of the congregation, and the stories we tell about who we are, collectively. Over the course of this next church-year, I can imagine us have many conversations about our story. Who are we? What are we doing? What do we do well? If we approach these stories with open hearts and open minds, it is my hope that we can hear each other, learn from each other. And, as we become clear on who we are, we can then turn to the question, who do we want to be? And, what do we want to be doing? Having said that, I must caution us about a pitfall of dwelling in our old stories. This is true whether it is one s own personal story, or as applied to our congregation. I believe that the weighty preponderance of history is a handicap. It is always good to remember where we have been, but it doesn't help us to get where we need to go, if we keep sitting in that same place where we have always been. We've got to get up and move but not right now! Let us agree, that while we will remember our history, we will also be open to trying new things and cultivating new relationships, in order to promote the wellbeing of this congregation. This is a great family. Like any family, it is not static it changes over time, as new members are born and older members pass away. But it remains a family, and the ties that bind those family-members together, are never negated by the changes that occur over time in the family. While I will never promote change just for the September 6, 2015 Page 10 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

11 sake of change there needs to be a good reason I do get frustrated by the tendency of groups in general to resist change at all costs, because whatever is being proposed is "not the way it has always been done..." This tendency is unhealthy a family that does not change or grow over time will eventually die out. That also holds true for congregations and other tight-knit organizations. So I now come back to our questions: Who are we? What are we doing? What do we do well? we were captivated by a sense of wonder and awe? What if hopefulness was our default way of being in the world? Is it possible for us to re-learn that? To do that? To see the world with open eyes, to experience life with open hearts, to relate to each other with open minds? Can we do this? I believe that we can. Let s try it together this year, and let s share that sense of wonder, and the willingness to be the authors of our own stories, with all others whose lives we touch. Let s share the love. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! Someone said to me recently that he wonders what life would be like, if we old fuddy-duddies could still see life through the eye s of a child. What would we see, if September 6, 2015 Page 11 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

12 OFFERING This congregation offers a liberal spiritual home to seekers from all walks of life. We are proud of the work we do in the community, the classes we offer for children and adults, for the care and concern provided by this community and it s staff, and for these two beautiful campuses that have each become a spiritual home for so school is an independent, private school nearby, that balances educational freedom and responsibility in a self-directed, democratic community. We are grateful for your support of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, and for support of our share-theplate recipient. Thank you, all, for your generosity. This morning s offering will now be received. many. If you are here for the first time, we invite you to let the offering basket pass you by. You are an honored guest. And if you have made this your spiritual home, we thank you for your continuing generosity. Every month, we also collect donations during the Offering, to support a worthy cause. This month, our Share-the-Plate Recipient is The Circle School. This September 6, 2015 Page 12 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg

13 BENEDICTION The old song says: You can t buy me love... But we can all offer it freely, And I encourage you to think of this, During the days and weeks ahead. Life can bring us challenges, People can try our patience, Events can overwhelm us... Yet, it is love, and it is life, but most of all, It is love of life that will get us through. Be in love with life, open your heart to the possible, And share that with everyone around you, Everyone whose life you touch. May it ever be so and blessed be you all! September 6, 2015 Page 13 Unitarian Church of Harrisburg